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Head-to-head comparison

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Coder Next

o4 Mini (OpenAI) and Qwen3 Coder Next (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 22 September 2026

As of 22 September 2026, Qwen3 Coder Next holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#104 vs #106); Qwen3 Coder Next is 5.5× cheaper per output token ($0.80/1M vs $4.40/1M); Qwen3 Coder Next offers the longer context window (262K vs 200K tokens); and Qwen3 Coder Next ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose o4 Mini if…

  • AA Humanity's Last Exam is your yardstick — 16.5% against 10.1%.

Choose Qwen3 Coder Next if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #104 against #106 (52.1 vs 51.6 points).
  • API cost matters — $0.80/1M output tokens against $4.40/1M, about 5.5× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.12/1M against $1.10/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 200K.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 Coder Next ships open weights while o4 Mini is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 4 listed API providers against 1.
  • AA τ²-Bench Telecom is your yardstick — 79.5% against 55.6%.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 Coder Next was listed 4 February 2026, o4 Mini 16 April 2025.

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Coder Next: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of o4 Mini and Qwen3 Coder Next
Fieldo4 MiniOpenAIQwen3 Coder NextQwen
ModelCap Index position#106#104
Index score51.652.1
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.10$0.12
Output price / 1M tokens$4.40$0.80
Context window200K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens100K236K
API providers listed14
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesImage, Text, FileText
First listed16 April 20254 February 2026
PublisherOpenAIQwen

Evidence: 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Coder Next

Public benchmark boards where o4 Mini or Qwen3 Coder Next has a published result
Boardo4 MiniQwen3 Coder NextLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14331426–1440—Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation6.1%High—Only one result
SWE-benchSWE-bench (Princeton / SWE-agent team)45.0%—Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)53.2Function calling—Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—9.2intelligence-index:v4.3:non-reasoningOnly one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis55.6%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="o4-mini (high)":reasoning=true79.5%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen3 Coder Next":reasoning=falseQwen3 Coder Next
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis16.5%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="o4-mini (high)":reasoning=true10.1%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen3 Coder Next":reasoning=falseo4 Mini

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Coder Next: common questions

Is o4 Mini better than Qwen3 Coder Next?

Qwen3 Coder Next ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #104 against #106. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is o4 Mini cheaper than Qwen3 Coder Next?

Qwen3 Coder Next is cheaper on output tokens: $0.80/1M against $4.40/1M. Input tokens are $1.10/1M for o4 Mini and $0.12/1M for Qwen3 Coder Next. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $4.40 for o4 Mini versus $0.64 for Qwen3 Coder Next. Qwen3 Coder Next costs 85.5% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, o4 Mini or Qwen3 Coder Next?

Qwen3 Coder Next has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 200K.

Which is better for coding, o4 Mini or Qwen3 Coder Next?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are o4 Mini and Qwen3 Coder Next open-weight models?

o4 Mini: API only. Qwen3 Coder Next: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run o4 Mini and Qwen3 Coder Next?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for o4 Mini and 4 for Qwen3 Coder Next, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Coder Next comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 22 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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